The DCYA have advised that a refund of preschool fees can take place for parents if their child meets the criteria below.

• Eligible for ECCE in 2015- 2016 (Children born between 01/01/2012 and 30/06/2012)
• Have been in attendance & fee paying for preschool from September 2015

REGISTRATIONS MUST BE UPLOADED TO PIP BY FRIDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2015

It is advised that providers complete the registrations on PIP as soon as possible and await the next scheduled payment for ECCE programme (30/10/2015) to arrive in your account before refunds are issued to parents.

Managing an early years setting has become a daunting task. Excellent communication and leadership skills are required to deal with the needs of parents, staff, children and external agencies such as TUSLA, Pobal etc.

As a support to services Offaly CCC will organise a Management & Leadership programme for Managers and Leaders of services commencing on Monday 21st September and finishing on Monday 16th November. The programme will run out over eight weeks. The main purpose of the “Management and Leadership” Programme is to assist Managers face the challenges associated with effectively managing an early years’ service in an ever-changing, diverse and complex environment.

This programme focuses completely on the “personal development and improvement” aspects of management rather than policy and procedure implementation. The overarching purpose of the programme is to develop more confident, assertive and competent managers in the ECCE sector. Canavan & Byrne will deliver this programme in a very practical manner using real scenarios, exercises and case studies and will be highly relevant.

The programme will consist of 8 sessions x 3 hours per session under four broad topics of Leadership, Communication, Supervision and Motivation.

The programme is aimed at early years workers who have a role in leading and managing their service. The cost of the programme is €50 per participant. The programme will commence on Monday September 21st and end on Monday November 16th and will be based in Tullamore. A minimum of fifteen participants is needed for the programme to go ahead. Booking forms are available from Áine on 057 9135878.

Please see our events calendar for further details.

As the proposed September deadline approaches, Minister O'Reilly and the Department of Community & Youth Affairs has taken note of concerns expressed regarding the imposition of the minimum qualification requirement from September 2015 and has decided to postpone the minimum requirement for a period of 12 months, until September 2016. 

Parent & Toddler Group Initiative Grants 2017

The Parent & Toddler Grants Initiative for 2017 has been announced and Offaly County Childcare Committee has been allocated a budget of €4,360.

The grants scheme will run for the academic year September 2017 to June 2018. Because the grants will operate on an academic year the time frame for applications will be very tight. Applications will be sent to Parent & Toddler Group Contacts in August with a closing date of September 22nd. Appraisals will take place on 28th September and Parent & Toddler Groups will know the outcome by October 13th. All grant contracts must be returned by November 17th to ensure groups are paid before the end of the financial year.